There are many different types of game tickets known in the art. One conventional type of game ticket is associated with a pull-tab (pull tab) game. In a pull tab game, a set of game tickets, often referred to as a “deal of tabs,” is created. There are a fixed amount of wins in each deal. The type and amount of wins are used to create the content of the pull tab tickets. A typical two-ply pull tab ticket has multiple tabs (windows) per game ticket that are initially hidden. Upon purchase, a player uncovers each of the pull tabs to determine if the ticket is a winner. A winning pull tab ticket may require the presence of a combination of symbols (similar to a slot machine), or the presence of a winning symbol under a single pull tab. Machines have been created to automatically dispense and even validate pull tabs. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,771 (Haste, III) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,299 (Clapper, Jr.), both of which are incorporated by reference herein. One commercially sold pull tab machine is the Lucky Tab II machine, available from Diamond Game Enterprises, Inc., Chatsworth, Calif.
Single-ply pull tab tickets also exist. Single-ply pull tab tickets have at least one game region with game content similar to the content of a pull tab game, but with no pull tab structure. One example of prior art single-ply pull tab tickets is shown in FIG. 1. (The tickets in FIG. 1 are part of the same deal of tickets.) In these tickets, different strings of alphanumeric characters represent different symbols, such as the symbols shown in FIG. 4 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,299. The form factor of the tickets in FIG. 1 allow for an extremely large number of tickets to be dispensed from a single reel of tickets, while allowing the ticket contents to be automatically read and displayed using the bar code reader and display screen in the machine described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,299.
Conventional pull tab tickets are sold in fixed denominations, typically ranging from $0.25 to $2.00 with award (prize) amounts ranging from the cost of the ticket to $5,000. Most of the prize amounts are small multiples of the ticket price. The average chance of winning for any particular ticket typically ranges from about 1 in 5 to about 1 in 7, but other ratios are known in the art.
Electronic pull tab machines also exist. These machines are electronically loaded with one or more electronic “digital deals” (i.e., an electronic version of a set of physical tickets). Unlike a lottery terminal or slot machine, the electronic pull tab machine does not select the outcome. It merely dispenses the set of tickets which have predetermined content that provides a predetermined outcome. The electronic pull tabs are dispensed in a previously determined order, such as sequentially. A touch screen is often provided on such machines. Upon receipt of payment, a pull tab appears on the touch screen and the player touches each tab or window to reveal its hidden content. Another type of electronic pull tab machine uses spinning reels which simulate physical reels that display tab results upon stopping. A receipt is printed if the electronic pull tab ticket is a winner. When all of the pull tabs in each available deal are sold, new digital deals must be electronically loaded into the machine to allow for continued play. One example of a touch screen electronic pull tab machine that dispenses “digital pull tabs” is commercially available from Tekbilt USA, Huntingdon Valley, Pa. The digital deal is loaded into the Tekbilt USA machine using a floppy disk and security key.
A “multiplier” or “multi-pay” feature is provided on some gaming machines, such as slot machines. In the context of a slot machine that has a predetermined payout for getting a certain symbol combination, the number of coins (credits) played multiplies the payout. For example, if the slot machine pays 5 credits for getting three lemons when you play one credit, it would pay 10 credits for the second credit and 15 credits for playing three credits. A bonus multiplier operates in a similar manner, except that when you play the maximum number of credits allowed by the slot machine (e.g., max coin) and hit a jackpot, such as three 7's, the awarded credits are a greater multiplier than the multiple of credits played. For example, one credit may pay 1,000 credits, two credits may pay 2,000 credits, but three credits pays 10,000 credits, not 3,000 credits.
Some electronic pull tab machines have a multiplier feature. However, the multiplier feature works in a different way than slot machine multiplier features. Different deals are assigned to different multipliers. That is, there is a first deal for single credits (1×), a second deal for double (2×) credits, and a third deal for triple (3×) credits. Thus, if a patron plays 1× and then decides next to play 3×, the electronic pull tab for the 3× is not the next pull tab in the 1× deal, but instead is the next pull tab in the 3× deal. If the patron subsequently decides to play another 1× (and no other patron has played in between), then the patron receives the next pull tab from the 1× deal. One disadvantage of this scheme is that multiple deals must always be available to use the multiplier feature, thereby increasing the expense and complexity of the process.
Bingo can also be played with a multiplier concept. The bingo operator will sell bingo cards in different denominations, such $1.00 cards and $5.00 cards. A bingo winner playing a $5.00 card will be awarded five times the award amount than a bingo winner playing a $1.00 card.
A “buy-a-pay” feature is also provided on some slot machines. In buy-a-pay, each credit buys additional payouts. Consider, for example, a slot machine that makes payouts only for a combination of three cherries, three bars or three sevens, with the three sevens being the largest payout. If the patron plays one credit, a payout is given only for three cherries and there is no payout for three bars or three sevens. If two credits are played, a payout is given for three cherries or three bars and there is no payout for three sevens. If three credits are played, a payout is given for three cherries, three bars, or three sevens. No buy-a-pay feature exists with conventional pull tab tickets because the cost and prize amount of such tickets are both fixed.
Lottery tickets may also be selected and dispensed in a similar manner as pull tabs, using finite sets of outcomes for a fixed number of lottery tickets. Other forms of ticket-based games of chance implemented using the “deal” concept are also known in the art, such as scratch-off ticket games. Such tickets are also conventionally sold for a fixed cost with fixed prize amounts.
Gaming patrons are constantly seeking new forms of entertainment, and particularly new forms of entertainment that have familiar elements. The present invention fulfills this need by providing tickets (both pull tab and generic tickets) which have conventional play elements in combination with new ways to play and redeem the tickets.